Keep on running

Distance: 4.5
Time: 37:40
Route: Arthur A

Today was a standard run around my Arthur A route. It was freezing (literally) this morning, and I ran the first part of the run a bit quicker than I had originally intended simply to get warmed up since I was having to deal with wind chill . No obvious ill effects from my 14 miler on Sunday, and I deliberately didn't push things.

Tomorrow I drop the hammer on run my 6 mile Portobello route. I ran this route at a hard pace about a month ago (3 January) and ended with a time of 49:30. With essentially a month of steady running under my belt I am very interested to find out what will happen - a big bang, a dull thud, or nothing at all? I'm guessing I'll hit about 47 minutes and I'll be happy with that - anything below 47 and I'll be delighted; anything above and I'll be a bit disappointed.

Blogging

Distance - 0 (rest day)

Today I feel like I should start my post off with an apology. I, like many other bloggers I expect, periodically check who has stumbled on to my blog and I note that a relatively large (and I mean relatively!) number of such people are google searchers seeking things like Edinburgh + marathon + training run + distance + running + with + cold etc. etc. My apology is really twofold. Firstly, these people aren't going to find much helpful information on this blog which is related to their searches. Secondly, even if they don't mind ending up in a blog mine is not particularly interesting. Its pretty brief and doesn't usually go much beyond recording my daily running activities. So my apologies on both fronts. This is simply a glorified diary which I use as a motivational tool to get myself fit. If fellow running bloggers are interested in charting my progress (as I do theirs in a number of cases) then so much the better.

My legs feel ok today. The strange sensation in my left leg is much reduced, although perceptible sometimes (it feels a bit 'fuzzy' and if anything nerve related). The only obvious difference I've felt today is probably being a bit hungrier than usual.

This past weekend seems to have been a popular competition weekend for fellow bloggers. Steve did an excellent 1:44 in the 3M Austin Half Marathon; Duncan ran an impressive, but for him disappointing, 2:45 marathon, and Mike ran a 34 minute 10k only a week or so after his 2:39 marathon.

Longest run

Distance: 14 miles
Time: 2:08:12

Today I ran my longest training run ever - 14 miles on my usual out and back long run route. I ran the 14 miles pretty slowly and felt pretty good for most of it. It was only in the last couple of miles (which are essentially on a long, gentle incline) that a few muscles started to tighten up, and this probably wasn't helped by me setting off in the morning without my water bottle and therefore having nothing to drink for the full 2 hours.

Needless to say, tomorrow is a rest day. I think I'll aim for a slow 4.5 on the Arthur A route on Tuesday and my planned hard 6 miler test run on Wednesday on the Portobello route (to compare against the time I ran on that route almost 1 month ago). That would round the running week out at about 34 miles, which is plenty at this stage in proceedings.

Up the hill

Distance - 4.1
Time - 36:20
Route - Arthur B

Today I ran my usual Saturday morning route - Arthur B - which is essentially up a big hill, back down and then home. 4.1 miles at an easy pace which felt very comfortable.

I have had the sensation of pins and needles in my left ankle/lower leg area over the past day or so. I'm not sure if its a direct consequence of the running or the ackward positions I've been crouching in doing DIY, or a combination of the two. Anyway, there's no pain and no obvious swelling, and assuming that's the same tomorrow morning, I'll continue with my planned long run and look forward to a day of rest on Monday.

steady running

Distance - 6.25-6.5 miles
Time - 58 mins

Today I reran a route I ran last week which is somewhere between 6.25 and 6.5 miles. I was 'without Garmin' today so have not yet been able to establish the exact distance of this. I felt OK but have had a few twinges of my ankle since the run - I'm beginning to think my new Asics may be a contributory factor.

Rest

Today was a rest day after 5 solid days of running. Only slight niggle is a tight left hamstring, but it eased off during the day and will hopefully disappear overnight. No reaction at all from my shins so far which I am delighted (and suprised) with, although that's an ailment liable to flare up at any time.

My entry confirmation for the Nairn 10k arrived today so that is March well and truly taken care of. 5 weeks to go until my first race and, while not particularly nervous, I am a bit apprehensive after so long away from running and football through injury, with 'only' two months training behind me (assuming nothing happens between now and then). Next week's hard 6-miler should give me a better indication of what time I'm likely to hit - at the moment I'm a bit clueless, and I suspect that is at the root of the apprehension.

I've been contemplating my training toward's June's marathon after reading various blogs and skimming the works of Jack Daniels, Arthur Lydiard etc. I think it is safe (and wise) to continue with base training until about mid-March (which for me will be gradually increasing mileage each month, and gradually stretching my Sunday long run). All things being well I should be creeping into 40 mile weeks with a longest run approaching 20 mile ( easy to write that in a blog, and I'm very conscious that the reality may be somewhat different). At that point I could probably start thinking about adding some faster and harder runs ('tempo' and 'threshold' runs as per the jargon) and a bit of hillwork. So until then I'll just relax and enjoy my slow running.

I've found loads of interesting running blogs of late with people of all types and abilities recording their progress. At last I've found a Scots blogger, albeit an ex-pat! Yvonne's speedyscot blog.

I'm not sure if it is only us in the UK who are getting it, but that new Jaguar 'gorgeous' advert is really starting to get on my nerves....

Portobello

Distance - 6 miles
Time - 52:00
Route - Portobello

Today I ran my Portobello route, which is about 6 miles. I still need to run this route with my Garmin to get a completely accurate reading on the distance. I aimed for an 'easy' as opposed to a 'slow' run, but, judging from the time, I ended up moving into the 'steady' zone. I found it a bit difficult to judge the pace after my 5th straight day running to be honest, but I felt quite good overall and I didn't feel like I was pushing it. Next week I'll be running this route at a hard pace, and I'm going to be interested to see what time I clock.

That gives me 29 miles for the week which, with a 'long' run of only 8 miles, isn't bad going.

Thursday - rest/ill
Friday - rest/ill
Saturday - 4.1 miles
Sunday - 8.2 miles
Monday - 6.2 miles
Tuesday - 4.5 miles
Wednesday - 6 miles
Total - 29 miles


Tomorrow is a well-earned day of rest. Saturday may be football or a run, and then Sunday is scheduled to be a 14 miler - my longest ever training run!

Easy run

Distance: 4.5
Time - 38:15
Route - Arthur A

Today I ran Arthur A, one of my staple routes. It was a pretty uneventful run, but what I found interesting was that I ran it very slowly and found it very easy, yet ended up running quicker using much less effort than I did three weeks ago. Either I had a very good day or I am beginning to feel some benefit of getting some miles into my legs. A 6 miler tomorrow gives me 29 miles for the week which I'm pretty happy with at this point.

Confirmation of my entry to the Inverness Half Marathon arrived so at least I know I am safely entered to that run. I'm number 1292 out of a max of 1500. This year they're using timing chips, and its on a certified course, so I'll have a proper 1/2 PB before too long. March will be an interesting month, with 1 10K and 2 1/2 marathons planned - I'll have had two and a bit solid (hopefully) months training done by then so I'll be interested to see how the time work out.

On January 3rd I ran a hard 10k along my Portobello route to set a test time to guage progress against. I reckon the beginning of February, roughly one month after I ran it last time, would be a good time to repeat the test.

Relaxing

Distance - 6.25-6.50 miles
Time - 59 mins

Today I went for a slow 6 miler after my 8 miles of yesterday. My legs felt fine and the run felt quite easy (apart from the section which was uphill and into a strong wind...). My Garmin went a bit wonky again today so I've having to guess the precise mileage, but to be fair I was running under trees for a fair bit of the run. My only gripe today is a bit of tenderness in my left ankle. It feels like a very slight sprain of the sort I might suffer playing football, but since I've haven't played in over a week I'm guessing I either jarred it on a downhill run or I'm having some teething trouble with my Asics.

I'm on leave for most of this week to burn up some of my annual leave. So I'm doing a bit of study, a bit of running, a bit of relaxing and a lot of DIY.

I'm still waiting to hear back about my entries to the Nairn 10k and the Inverness 1/2 in March (it wasn't possible to enter online so I had to send postal entries) so hopefully that'll show up shortly. Once they're out of the way I think I'll start to have a look at some marathon training regimes to build on the base which I will have (hopefully) built by then.

Feeling better

Distance - 8.2m (est.)
Time - 1:14:02

Today I'm feeling a lot better, apart from this really frustrating ringing in my ear!!

I ran a very slow 8 miler (apart from one mile where I picked up the pace just to keep things interesting) along my usual long run route and it felt very comortable compared with last week. My Garmin had one of those days where it refused to pick up the satellite signals, but according to Gmaps I ran a touch over 8.2 miles.

I'm off work most of the next two weeks so I may take the opportunity to investigate some new running routes in the daylight.

The goal for this week is just to run a solid run each day. Next week I think I'll try and bring the weekly mileage up into the low 30s (mainly be increasing my long Sunday run) and holding it there for three weeks. I think that would then allow me an easier week prior to my first 10k race of the season. I don't plan doing any real taper or any speed work for it. Its just a race to establish a time and keep me interested as I continue with my base training. At the moment I haven't got a clue what time I'll do.

Up the hill

Distance - 4.1
Route - Arthur B
Time - 35:10

Today I did an easy/steady run round the back of Arthur's Seat. Felt OK going up the hill, but a little tired on the flat on the way back. No surprise I guess after having the cold for two weeks.

Today I also started to break in a new pair Asics Gel 2110s. This is my second new pair of trainers, which I'll be alternating with my Mizuno's.

Tomorrow I plan to scale back my 'long' run to 8 miles. The last three Sundays have been 8, 10 and 12 miles respectively and I'm a bit wary about increasing the distance too much too soon. Next week, all things being well, I'll however try to stretch the distance a little again and aim for 14 miles.

Longer-term goals

Today was another day of enforced rest. I can see gradual progress with my illness - much less coughing, much less catarhh, much less bunged up - but I still have a really annoying ringing sensation in my left ear. According to the doc, my sinus infection spread to my ear and has resulted in a slightly retracted eardrum. Its not sore, just really, really annoying. Anyway, I can only hope that after this I'll be immune to whatever cold and flu bugs are going about. Come the weekend I suspect the itch to do some form of exercise will have got the better of me. I'm going to give football a miss, but think I'll wrap up warm and go for a slow jog just to get my legs turning over.

I mentioned previously that I had set some pretty general targets for my first season after injury:

10k - sub 50
1/2 - sub 1:45
Marathon - sub 4

I would hope to hit these targets quite quickly and I'd been scratching ahead about what longer-term goals I could set myself which wouldn't either be ridiculous or relatively meaningless. And then it occurred to me - find out my dads PBs. He did a lot of running when he was working and I have plenty of memories as a kid of his stretching routines in the house before and after his runs. So in true Freudian fashion, my longer term goals simply have to be to beat his PBs . I'd say they are safe enough for a good while yet:

10k - 39:40
1/2 - 1:29:51
Marathon - 3:40 (he tells me he never managed to run a marathon injury free)

Thanks to Duncan Larkin for stopping by. I think someone described Duncan's blogging as 'raw' - that seems a good description to me; his posts are they are usually very interesting and I'd recommend anyone to stop by and have a read of his blog. I find blog's like these quite inspirational as I seek to drag myself from my post-injury, workaholic, part-time student slumber and back into the realms of proper fitness. Its going to be a long, slow journey, so its nice to read about other peoples trials and tribulations across the spectrum of fitness levels.

Peniciliin

After almost two days on penicillin I'm feeling a bit perkier but still not 100%. The coughing has subsided substantially, although I still have what is almost luminous greem catarhh draining from my sinuses (ok, this is probably a bit more detail than anyone one wants). Anyway, today was another day of enforced rest and the same will probably apply tomorrow.

I've still managed a reasonable number of miles for the week, all things considered:

Thursday 5-a-side football
Friday 4.5miles
Saturday 4miles (hilly)
Sunday 12 miles (slow)
Monday (rest)
Tuesday 3miles (treadmill)
Wednesday (rest/ill)
Total 23.5miles

If anyone is wondering why I have gone a bit James Bond and annonymised my blog, I was searching for something on google and was a bit startled to see my blog turn up as a result. In time I expect I'll put my details back up but for the moment I would prefer to bask in glorious annonymity....

Medication

Yesterday I was feeling pretty lousy (still coughing) so decided to do an easy session on the treadmill. After about 15 minutes I was doing a pretty good impression of a snowman in the middle of the sahara - sweating buckets for no apparent reason. I completed 5k and decided to have an early night - hence the lack of a post yesterday .

Today I decided to go to my doctor since I've been suffering with the cold for over a week, which is the longest I can ever remember having one. Turns out I have a viral infection in my sinuses and bronchitis, so needless to say there was no running today and there isn't likely to be for a few days. I have a course of penicillin to take and I can already feel various strange sensations in my chest, neck and sinuses - I'm assuming sort of WWF smackdown is taking place between my germs and the penicillin.

I'm trying to be philosophical and view this as a double-edged sword. Its frustrating that I can't do as much running as I want to, but at the same time it does ensure that I don't go mad and overtrain too early. And despite my illness I've managed to get over 20 miles done this week so all is not lost.

Fellow blogger Steve Bezner has just completed the Houston Marathon in a time of 4:01:23. I sure its a right royal pain in the ass for him that he just missed breaking 4 hours but its a pretty impressive performance in a first marathon for someone who only recently took up running. Being that close first time round suggests to me that next time he runs a marathon he'll spank 4 hours easily. Anyway, well done Steve.

CJ asked a couple of days ago how I felt my training was going (she's also preparing for a marathon). Overall, I think its OK. I don't feel very fast at the moment but equally I'm not feeling very tired when running and have already stretched my long-run to 12 miles. Swimming, running and football prior to my injuries has left me with a pretty good 'engine' even if it is attached to a slightly suspect frame. Key for me I think is to avoid the dreaded shin splints....

Rest

Today was a rest day following my 12 mile slow run yesterday and I'm glad to say that there's no apparent reaction to increasing the mileage. Even my shins feel OK, but that could change once I go for my next run.

I still have a chesty cough as a hangover from my cold of last week so I may restrict myself to the warmth of the gym and treadmill.

I was reflecting on the fact today that my first 10k race is scheduled for 5 March. That seems a fair bit away at first but its only really six weeks of training.

12 miles

Distance: 11.93 miles
Time: 1:54:11

Today was my long slow run of the week. I ran my usual route - one way out along the coast from Edinburgh towards Musselburgh and Prestonpans, turning when my Garmin told me I had reached the necessary difference.

I felt pretty tired today - probably caused by a combination of my cold of last week and playing football or running on each day since Wednesday. I mainly just felt slow - usually I have difficulty keeping my pace down but today my legs just wanted to go very slowly. But at least the long run is done and I haven't felt particularly tired during the day.

My week of ailments continues however - I had a long shower after my run and now seem appear to be half deaf in my left ear. Hopefully it will clear soon enough.

Tomorrow is a well earned rest day.

'Arthur B'

Route - Arthur B

This is another of my editable posts which I will use to summarise my standard training runs.

This time its 'Arthur B', which, unsurprisingly, is a close relation to 'Arthur A'. Its a run a touch over 4 miles (depends what mood my Garmin's in) from my flat, following the road round the back of Arthur's Seat and then home again.

As I've said before, Arthur's Seat is a large lump of rock (the remnants of a volcano) situated in the middle of Holyrood Park. It is a stones throw from the foot of the Royal Mile and the new Scottish Parliament. Its a popular running and walking destination and its pretty rare to run in the area without passing someone else doing the same thing. It also happens to be only a couple of minutes away from where I live which makes it a very handy resource for me.

The main feature of 'Arthur A' is the stinking incline in the first couple of miles - there's a screen grab below of the elevation data downloaded from my Garmin.



The streetmap image of the route is below:



Times for 'Arthur B'

• 14 January 2006 (33:50)
• 21 January 2006 (35:10)
• 28 January 2006 (36:20)
• 9 March 2006 (33:51)
• 1 April 2006 (36:00)
• 8 April 2006 (35:45)
  
  

End of the week (but a couple of days late...)

Route - 'Arthur B'
Distance - 4.11 miles
Time - 33.50

If anyone reads this blog, I expect they will have made the logical deduction that if there is an 'Arthur A' route there must be at least an 'Arthur B' if not an 'Arthur C' etc.

Well today was a trip round 'Arthur B' and I'll create a separate post explaining what its all about.

This past week has been a bit of a nightmare because of my cold and I managed only 12 miles, although there's a couple of football sessions in there as well.

This week will be much better as I have covered almost 10 miles in the last couple of days and have a very slow 12 miler planned for tomorrow morning. I'm planning doing about 4-6 weeks of 30 mile weeks and then seek to raise it up a bit.

Back running

I've not completely shaken this bug but I did feel good enough to go out and run 'Arthur A' again. I ran the first three and a bit miles steady and put in a hard last mile, mainly because I was late home from work and was starving and wanted to back for some food! This is reflected in the splits although again the sportstracks splits don't match the Garmin. 36:53 is my fastest time on that route so far and I'll be interested to see how far I can pull that down when I do the route at a really hard pace.




I'd have to question the validity of the sportstracks second mile split as it is essentially uphill all the way and I was consciously trying not to push it too hard. The garmin has that split at just over 9 mins which is a bit more realistic I think. On that basis I think I'll just start using the splits from the Garmin as my default, although it is a bit of a pain working with two pieces of software.

I also need to work out how to present a graph of the elevation of the routes I have run. Edinburgh has been described as a city on a hill (which it essentially is) and although it is possible to go running on the flat, more often than not you end up hitting a hill somewhere along the way and some of them are bloody painfull. I am feeling the need to share that pain in the form of a graph....

Finally, I've entered a number of races of varying distances over the next nine months - a couple of 10ks, a couple of halfs and a couple of marathons. I had been toying with running a 10k in the next month or so but I think I'd rather get some miles under my belt and hit my first race confident of my stamina.

Recovery

Mainly just a chesty cough now - hopefully now I've had this bug, whatever it is, I won't suffer similarly for a good while.

Tonight was 5-a-side football. An OK knockabout but I wasn't pressing too hard given how the week has gone. I'm in two minds whether to play on Saturday or not. Either way, its going to be a low mileage week. That may be no bad thing as I've had 3 solid weeks of running and I'm sure my shins are enjoying the rest.

Recovery

My nose and eyes have almost completely dried up now which is good, but I have an itchy cough which isn't quite so good. I decided to do a slow 5k on the treadmill today and don't really feall any better or worse for it. Anyway, at the present rate of recovery I ought to be OK for football on Saturday.

Ill

I feel like crap today. I got hardly any sleep last night because of my cold, as I added a sore throat and a cough to my sneezing and runny nose and eyes. If it wasn't for the obvious consequences I'd gladly have chopped my head off! Today the runny nose and eyes have largely stopped but the pain in my throat is descending into my chest and I have just generally felt bad. I only ever buy medicine when I feel really bad and I generally try to avoid 'non-drowsy' and go for 'guaranteed drowsy to knock you out until you feel better' stuff. Unfotunately, all they had on the shelf was non-drowsy so I'll have to suffer with that.

Needless to say there was no running today - even if I could have forced myself out I suspect I would just have ended up feeling very ill. My left hamstring still feels slightly strained so no big loss. I've been using my time lying on my couch feeling sorry for myself to read up on other people's blogs and on training regimes, so I'm itching to get back out there.

Cold

Well, today I did absolutely nothing. After my run yesterday I was watching football on TV and sneezed a couple of times. Then I started sniffing a bit. And before I knew it I was suffering a full on stinking cold which has continued unabated today. After wandering about the streets of Edinburgh on Hogmanay and running for the past week in near freezing conditions I had been wondering how long it would take to suffer the consequences. It is one of those colds where your body feels OK but you feel absolutely inhuman from the neck up. So not too difficult a decision to have a rest. Hopefully it'll pass in the next day or so, not least because work is hectic at the moment.

On the bright side I have submitted my three essays on time. Having said that, the next three are due in April which won't take long to come round.

Only reaction from yesterday's run is a slightly tight hamstring, but hopefully that will also pass with a little rest.

10 miles (almost)

Distance: 9.76 miles
Time: 1:26:39

This morning I went for a slow 10-miler(ish) as I seek to gradually increase my Sunday long run. I ran the first 5 miles very easily and then upped the tempo slighlty on the way back, and this is reflected in the splits. Interestingly, the splits on my Garmin are slightly different from thos which are recorded when I upload the data to SportTracks, but they're not wildly different enough to get very excited about it. Overall I am quite content with the run, particularly coming the morning after a hard game of football.



The route is an extension of my 10k(ish) route. Basically from my flat, along the Portobello promenade and through through Musselburgh via its Promenade. There's a roadmap image below (you get a clearer picture if you click on the map).



To avoid provoking any complaints from my shins I'm considering having a rest day tomorrow, and hitting the gym instead.

Victory

Today I didn't have a 'run' as such, but I played 90 minutes of competitive football which provides a different sort of fitness. In the past 18 months I have suffered two fractures, a recurrence of shin splints and a few other minor niggles so it was nice to get my second 90 minutes in the past 12 months under my belt. Just like my running, the road back to football fitness is going to be a long one I expect. Hopefully the two will be complementary. Actually, I managed about 60 decent minutes today and felt fatigued for the last 30 minutes, but I'd expected that to be the case.

It was also nice to win for a change - 6-0, admittedly against the bottom team in our league; but it is always nice to start the year with a victory. No major pains following the game, apart from a slight twist of the ankle, but I expect that will disappear overnight.

Tomorrow I plan to do a very slow (not much more than a jog) 10-miler as I begin the process of gradually extending my Sunday long run.

Rest

Well, after a reasonably energetic week today is a day of rest.

All is not lost however as I have been breaking in a new pair of running shoes by walking round my flat, and have worked out how to get mile lap times from my Garmin.

Tomorrow is a game of football - against the bottom team in the league so we have to win...

I've decided to summarise my activities for the week in a handy table below. Next week I'll hopefully add some gym work since my gym will be back to its normal opening hours.

Two days left to finish my essays, so its back to that for a little while.

Football

Distance: 5-a-side football!
Time: 70 minutes

Today was technically a non-running day as I had to play football this evening. I play in an amateur 11-a-side team on a Saturday so this was effectively mid-week training. I felt OK, although I did have a couple of twinges in my shins which I could well do without.

Tomorrow is therefore definitely a complete rest day, followed by a game of football on Saturday and a slow 10-miler (gradually build the distance with one long run a week....) on Sunday. There's a good chance I'll pick up some bumps and bruises playing football on Saturday so the long run on Sunday could be a bit tender.

Anyway, best get back to the essays. I'd forgotten how long its takes to properly reference and create a bibliography for an essay....

Dangerous

Distance: 5.98m
Time: 55:15mins


Today I had planned to run on the treadmill after a hard 10k yesterday but it turns out that this is my gym's final festive day of restricted hours (I only found out they were closing early as I walked through the door...). So instead it was out onto the road for a route I haven't run in a long time, and now I remember why. Its past Arthur's Seat (again...) but carrying on into the heart of Edinburgh and running back along Princes St - basically lots of cars and lots of people. What didn't help matters was that it was freezing and ice was beginning to form on the pavements.

It is rather ironic that another marathon blogger was posting yesterday about the periodic abuse he receives from passers-by. I didn't have that today (although I have in the past had eggs thrown at me from a car) but, because of my route, I did have to dodge an incredible amount of pedestrians who seem utterly oblivious to runners. I am always willing to move out of the way when I can but it does get tiresome when no-one else seems prepared to move an inch. Worst of all I ran past a few groups of runners in the Meadows (a park and popular running route in Edinburgh) who, despite taking up the entire pavement and seeing me clearly moving across and trying to run as close to the inside as possible, did not seem to wish to alter their path - at all. It is tempting in those situations just to put your head down and keep running - I'm 6ft and its going to hurt most people more than its going to hurt me if there is a collision. The alternative is to run on the side of the road but I have previous experience with drivers who take great joy in driving straight toward runners. So if its to be a choice between a collision between a car or a pedestrian, I know which one I'm choosing.

I'm following the example of yet another blogger and posting my time and distance at the top of the post - should make it easier to find amid the rest of the nonsense if nothing else.

Perhaps this is the secret to blogging - find out what others are saying and doing and put it on your own....

The run itself today was good - apart from the route - and was a very easy/comfortable pace with a lot of effort to spare. I deliberately avoided looking at the Garmin in case I was tempted to speed up and ended up with 55:15mins for 5.98miles which seems reasonably encouraging at this stage.

All I have to worry about is my essays, shins and being back at work...

'Portobello'

Route - Portobello

This is another updateable post recording progress along one of my standard routes.

The route is essentially a long gentle decline from my flat down to the sea and the promenade which runs parallel to Portobello; then along to the end of the promenade back up to my flat through Portobello itself, via the long and gentle incline I had run down to begin with. Hence the name for this run of Portobello'....inspired, I know.

Unfortunately my Garmin couldn't pick up a signal when I started out this morning so I only have my time to go on. I've created the route via Gmaps pedometer and will update this page with the exact data from my Garmin once I run the route again. I'm pretty confident the route will turn out to be only very slightly shorter or longer than what Gmaps predicts.

Times for 'Portobello'

• 3 January 2006 (49:30 mins) (hard pace)
• 25 January 2006 (52:00) (easy pace)
• 1 February 2006 (46:15) (hard pace)
• 8 February 2006 (47:15) intervals of 4 min hard, 3 min recovery
• 15 February 2006 (47:00) intervals of 4 min hard, 3 min recovery
• 28 February 2006 (50:00) (easy/comfortable pace)
• 8 March 2006 (45:36) intervals of 5 min hard, 3 min recovery
  

Hard 10k

Today I decided to do a hard run along what I know from previous experience to be a route which is just under 10k route (probably about 9.5k but my Garmin was playing up so I have had to rely on Gmaps pedometer).

10k is my first planned race in March and since I've set my season's goal of breaking 50 minutes for that distance I thought it would be useful to set a benchmark time to see what sort of position I'm starting from.

My time was exactly 49.30mins. This is good from the point of view that if I can get some solid miles under my belt without getting injured, breaking 50 minutes in March will be doable. However, I found running at that speed over that distance to be very tiring (definitely a pronounced negative split) and it serves as a reminder that there's a lot of stamina work to be done if I want to be able to set reasonable times at distances over 10k.

(As an aside, I ran a 48 minute 10k over 15 years ago as a teenager when I was swimming competitively and running the odd road race - I haven't run a 10k since....).

I'll create a seperate updateable post for the route itself.

Now its back to some essay writing. I start back at work tomorrow for what I expect to be a pretty busy few weeks before I have some planned annual leave. This means I only have three clear days (today, Saturday and Sunday) left to complete all three essays!

'Arthur A'

Route - Arthur A

This will be one of a number of editable posts which I will use to summarise my standard training runs (I could probably do this on my server webspace but I'd prefer to keep everything together on this blog if possible).

First up is 'Arthur A' - this is a 7km run from my flat, following the road in front of Arthur's Seat and then back home via the Pleasance gym.

Arthur's Seat is a large lump of rock (the remnants of a volcano) situated in the middle of Holyrood Park. Iti s a stones throw from the foot of the Royal Mile and the new Scottish Parliament. Its a popular running and walking destination and its pretty rare to run in the area without passing someone else doing the same thing. It also happens to be only a couple of minutes away from where I live which makes it a very handy resource for me.

The main feature of 'Arthur A' is the steady incline from about 1.2m to 1.9m - once I've become more familiar with my Garmin I hope to provide some greater detail on elevation etc.

The streetmap image is below, along with a link to the satellite image.


















Times for 'Arthur A'

• 30 December 2005 (40 mins)
• 2 January 2006 (38:33)
• 13 January 2006 (36:53)
• 24 January 2006 (38:15)
• 31 January 2006 (37:40)
• 11 February 2006 (36:23)
• 16 February 2006 (37:15)
• 27 February 2006 (34:10) (hard pace)
• 6 March 2006 (36:53)
• 15 March 2006 (34:45)
• 20 March 2006 (36:30) (recovery after long run - 18 miles)
• 23 March 2006 (34:15)
• 27 March 2006 (39:00) (recover after half marathon)
• 3 April 2006 (37:15) (recovery after long run - 20 miles)
• 8 April 2006 (36:30) (recovery after long run - 20 miles)
• 11 April 2006 (31:45) (hard pace)

An injury free beginning to the year

Post-Hogmanay tiredness was very apparent on waking up this morning. But with some essay writing to do for my post grad degree (MA in Legislative Studies) I figured it was best to get the run out of the way early. The three essay titles, if anyone's interested, are:

1. "Critically assess the utility of Robert Packenham's work on the functions of legislatures. What, if anything, is missing?
2. What would you do with Standing Committees in the House of Commons - and why?
3. What distinguishes a well established legislature from a newly democratic one?

All to be no more than 3,000 words in length and all to be submitted no later than 9 January. I've broken the back of the first two and just need to grind out a first draft of number three. These are my first essays since graduating over seven years ago, so while it would be nice to attain high marks I think I will happily settle for a solid pass.

I did the 4.5m route following the road in front of Arthur's Seat (and back via the Pleasance gym etc) again. Time today was just short of 39 minutes. I wouldn't call it an easy run, or a steady run, but somewhere inbetween. I could definitely still feel the festive alcohol in my legs when running up the hill in front of Arthur's Seat.

If I make good progress with the essays I think I'll spend some time putting together graphics of my training runs. I should probably give each a name as well.

I spent some time reading through other marathon blogs last night and found a few which were quite interesting. I'll start collecting links to the best ones I find on my own. Its interesting to see such a wide variety of people aiming for widely differing times.

Happy New Year

Well, typical Edinburgh on Hogmanay last night. Streets very busy and lots of people very drunk. Many of the pubs were open until 5am, which is several hours beyond what I can manage these days...

1 January seems an appropriate time to set some goals for the coming year.

Target times

10k sub 50 mins
Half marathon sub 1 hour 45 mins
Marathon sub 4 hours

These aren't very stretching and I expect to revisit them as the training progresses and I begin to run some races. Speaking of which, I need to give some thought to which races should feature in the build up to my two marathons.